Truckee Food Shop offers takeout with worldly delight.
Truckee Food Shop offers meals to go that are homemade, fresh, and prepared using global styles of cooking. The delicious fare comes from the mind of chef Eduardo Diaz de Leon. Raised in Guanajuato, Mexico, Diaz de Leon established a culinary foundation in a highly agricultural region, cultivated with constant influences from his grandmother’s kitchen.
“I grew up with fresh produce and strong aromas,” he remembers. “It was a very conservative time when women were the ones who cooked, but I was always in the kitchen trying to help out and learn.”
After he finished law school, Diaz de Leon focused on his passion for cooking. He moved to Vancouver, where he attended the Dubrulle International Culinary and Hotel Institute of Canada. There he honed his talent in French cuisine and went on to explore other contemporary food cultures. He spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area before meeting the love of his life, Niels Hooper, at Burning Man.
“Love brought me here,” he says. “Who doesn’t love California? It’s heaven, especially in Truckee with the outdoors. Everything you get here with produce, meat, vegetables, it’s amazing.”
Curated Cuisine
When Diaz de Leon and Hooper opened Truckee Food Shop, part of their aim was to introduce the area to foods they hadn’t eaten before.
“I saw a need for a business that would cater to people who didn’t want to go to restaurants or cook,” Diaz de Leon adds.
Incorporating his French training with Pacific Northwest and Mexican flair, he offers a set menu of grab-and-go staples along with daily specials, house-made jarred items, and curated serving pieces. Truckee Food Shop partners with Tahoe Food Hub to source most of its produce and meats from area farms and ranches.
Using local, newly harvested ingredients means amazing flavors and variety. Diaz de Leon explains that creating daily specials with what is offered each week is a challenge he enjoys.
“You think about food differently and come up with creative, tasty foods that way,” he says.
On the menu, customers find a mix of classic American comfort foods such as fried chicken sandwiches or barbecue ribs, as well as Mexican dishes that include tortas and ceviche.
“Our ceviche is so good, and we sell a lot of it,” Diaz de Leon says.
Highlighting tender morsels of fish and seafood, summer ceviche often features tomatoes, cucumbers, jicama, and other fresh vegetables; in the winter, customers find pomegranate and citrus in the mix. No matter the time of year, the ceviche is perfect enjoyed atop homemade tortilla chips — delicioso!
Heidi Bethel appreciates all that goes into making a great meal to go and cannot wait to dig in to a tasty ceviche from Truckee Food Shop.
Truckee Food Shop
12030 Donner Pass Road, Ste. 3, Truckee
530-214-8935 • Truckeefoodshop.com
